Pursuit
by quillsandtattoos
Summary: Uchiha Sasuke agreed to take Haruno Sakura with him to Sound. Three years later, Sakura runs into the teammate she left behind. NaruSaku. Rated M. Oneshot for now.


Summary: Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura left Konoha together to join Sound. Two years later, Sakura runs into the teammate she left behind. Rated M. One-shot for now.

Along red network of his veins  
What fires run, what craving wakes?

-Pursuit by Sylvia Plath

* * *

Sakura could recognize that shade of blonde and that obnoxious orange anywhere.

'Shit,' she thought to herself, as she walked straight into an encounter with hero previous teammate.

Behind them was the village that she had recently inhabited. She had made a quick stop to gather some fruit and catch up on some latest gossip. The village was preparing for an annual weapons market, and she had been eager to see some of their wares. There had been explosive tags shaped to look like walnuts, parchment that could be written on with chakra, and a series of poisons and antidotes that were completely scent-free and invisible to the human eye. She had wanted to stay and look more, but weapons markets attracted Shinobi and she didn't want to be recognized.

Since she had left Sound three months ago to travel on her own for a bit, she had gotten into the habit of being on the lookout for anyone that might know or might recognize her. Luckily, with no valuable kekkai genkai like Sasuke-kun, and no jinchuriki residing in her like Naruto and Gaara, Sakura knew that she did not have a big of a target on her back. She was probably still known as the weak link of Team 7 who had gone to Sound with her crush, and became Kabuto's apprentice.

She was certainly not prepared to run into Uzumaki Naruto on all people. The last she had heard of him was that he had gone off to train with Jiraiya, but that had been about two years ago. Kabuto-sensei had mentioned it to her over dinner one day while the two of them rested after another intense training session, and she had been careful not to allow any reaction to surface lest her sensei accuse her of emotional attachments to Konoha.

But she _had_ been happy to hear that Naruto was making something out of himself. A part of her had always known that he wasn't just the dumb boy that she had been teammates with. She had seen that potential begin to blossom in the last few months she had been teammates with him before she and Sasuke-kun had departed their village.

Now, that he was right in front of her, she wondered if he had changed at all. He clearly hadn't gotten over his orange obsession. But at least he had grown taller, and his skin was tanner. He still wasn't as handsome as Sasuke-kun, but Sakura had learned early that her broody, dark-haired friend and former teammate set the bar unfairly high for everyone.

Sakura stayed silent, a fruit basket from the village hanging off one hand. She was completely overthrown from seeing him for the first time in three years. The Naruto that she had used to know would have announced his presence so loudly that she would have been able to avoid him before he got within twenty feet of her.

Now, that he was, in fact, _ten_ feet from her he still hadn't uttered a sound.

He recognized her. She saw the way his blue eyes flashed, and felt his cold gaze rest on her. His silence made her every way uncomfortable. Three years in Sound had certainly given her plenty of opportunity to get used to cold Shinobi, but the Naruto in her thoughts was still the loud and overly rhapsodic 12 year old who pledged his love and loyalty to her almost as much as he did to ramen. She supposed that it was foolish of her to think that he was the same blubbering, ambitious, brave idiot he had been when they were teammates, but nothing could have prepared her for the stoicness that she was witnessing now.

For the first time in her life, she questioned Naruto's intentions towards her. She had always sort of thought that the next time that they met (if they ever met), she could make a quick apology about leaving with no heads-up and then they would go on their merry ways. But with the way that he was looking at her, something told her that Naruto wasn't prepared to just walk away. And with all her poisons in the inn that she had been staying at, and herself decked in civilian clothes to blend in with the crowd- Sakura could not have been more helpless.

"Sakura-chan," he spoke, nodding his head once. "No Konoha hitai-ate?"

Sakura reached up instinctively to her hairline where her hitai-ate would have normally been. She had kept that remnant of Konoha all these years. Sasuke-kun had slashed a line through his almost the moment they had arrived on Otogakure soil, but something had prevented Sakura from doing the same. In Sound, she had carried around a hitai-ate that had belonged to a previous Sound nin who had lost her life in the Konoha invasion and now that she was traveling around she found it was easier not to wear a hitai-ate and not have to deal with any nosy shinobi or civilians. Her Konoha hitai-ate was hidden in Kabuto-sensei's storage room that he had given her the key to, and told her to move any precious belongings into.

"I left it back at home," she confessed.

She took a step back when his lips pulled down in a snarl at the word 'home'.

She felt a tug of annoyance. Naruto and his die-hard loyalty to Konoha could go to Hell. Sakura had no reason to care of his disapproval over her choices than she did the opinions of the bullies who had taunted her in her Academy days.

"I guess I'll be going," she said aloud, and made to move past him. Of course, he didn't let it be that simple though. His hand came out to grab the top of her arm in a gesture that was more forceful than she had thought him capable of.

She raised a brow at the hand and then looked up to his face, making sure that her expression remained calm even when her pulse quickened.

"What are you doing here?" He demanded.

"Getting supplies," she said, holding up the basket. If need be she could throw it at him, and then thrust a kunai at his pressure point if she needed to make a hasty retreat.

"You've left Sound?" His voice softened just a touch, and Sakura could almost feel the hope bubbling beneath the question.

"For a bit," she told him softly. She didn't want him getting any false impression on her returning with him, but that small part of her that she had tried desperately to suffocate the past three years still wanted to spare Naruto as much as possible. He was her previous teammate after all. And he had been a great one, she was incredibly fond of times with him.

"And Sasuke?"

Sakura shrugged, "He was away last time I was there… But he wanders in and out as he pleases too."

Naruto nodded slowly, still not taking his eyes off her. She could see him battling with himself over something, before the grip on her hand slowly began to loosen.

"Are you here alone?" She asked him.

He nodded his head, "Jiraiya's in the next village over… I came to check out the weapons market."

She nodded. The next village was about half an hour away. Much closer to where she was residing than this village was. She would need to pack up and leave as soon as she got home.

"Do you want to grab a bite to eat?" he asked, nodding to the village that she had just come out of.

Sakura was taken aback; a moment ago she was preparing herself for an attack, but Naruto was apparently after a date.

"Wouldn't it be betraying your village to hang out with a missing-nin?"

Naruto shrugged, his face still impassive. "Just a dinner between two teammates."

Sakura was tempted to say yes. After all, she still wanted things to be okay between them. But her training and experience reminded her that silly crush or not, Naruto was a Konoha ninja and Sakura was a missing-nin. Hanging out with Naruto in a public space would drag the attention of any Konoha shinobi or Konoha allies that would surely put two and two together if they saw the Uzumaki Naruto and his previous pink-haired teammate bonding. She couldn't make herself more vulnerable if she planted her sorry self at Konoha's gates by her own volition.

"I can't Naruto, I'm sorry," she muttered softly, and pushed ahead. His grip on her arm tightened again, and she was pulled back.

"Look, Sakura-chan," his coldness had dropped, revealing the urgency and warmth that she was used to seeing from him. " It's been a really long time… I know that this is really weird for the both of us. I can't live with myself if we just walked away from each other without spending a little time together."

Sakura took a deep breath, and gave him a long, considering look. His blue eyes pleaded to her, and she wondered for the first time in a long time what he must have felt when he woke up the morning after Sasuke-kun and her had left the village.

"I can't go to a public space," she told him. She took a step back, and his hand dropped from her arm, but he took a step towards her to clear the gap anyway.

In truth, Sakura had spent very little time the last three years thinking of Konoha. After a lifetime of being pampered and spoiled, she had finally experienced the real life of a ninja in Sound. The ninja there were a battle-hardened, cynical bunch who saw the world as powerful and weak. She had spent most of her time training to get herself out of the latter category, and not keep herself vulnerable. She had also had Sasuke-kun to worry about, who was more and more at risk of falling completely under Orochimaru's thumb. Her leave from Sound was more of a vacation where she took some time to explore somewhere beyond Orochimaru's base, and spend some time away from being in a constant state of fear.

She was aware that Konoha wanted Sasuke back, but she didn't know how they felt about her. They probably assumed if he came back then she would come too. But if Naruto still carried feelings for her, then her absence would have hit him just as hard as Sasuke's had. Naruto had no parents. Team 7 had been his everything.

Hell, he still called her Sakura- _chan._ Even after she abandoned his beloved village to flee with his rival, and broken the only family he had.

That loyalty stung at her. She couldn't just _leave_ him. That would open up new wounds, and burn more bridges. But she hardly thought it possible for them to just sit down and have a casual conversation. Maybe if she had run into someone like Nara Shikamaru or Inuzaku Kiba, someone who would have recognized her but ultimately not given a shit whether she returned with them or not, and who would have been happy to just catch her up on some latest gossip and ask a few harmless questions about how she was keeping up.

But this was Naruto. This was her gennin teammate. Teammate's had more to discuss than the weather or their favorite restaurant- there were secrets, and broken hearts, and betrayals that would not go away no matter how silent they kept. She couldn't do him the dishonor of engaging in some shallow talk for a bit. Not with an elephant _that_ big in the room.

But, there might be another way for her to get off her tail. No pun intended.

Before she could change her mind, she brought a hand up to rest on his chest. He tensed beneath her, clearly readying himself for an attack, but she stubbornly kept her touch gentle and inviting.

"If you like… I can think of a way we could spend some time with each other," she said in her most seductive voice, letting her hand explore his chest through his jumper, and feeling with a pleasant surprise the muscles hidden there.

Her Sound roommate, and close friend, Karin had taken great pleasure in 'teaching' Sakura the art of seduction during the three years that they had shared a room together. She and Sakura had tried everything they could think of on Sasuke-kun with no success, but they had quickly realized he was the one exception in the group of male nins around them who were not immune to kunoichi charms.

If a battle-hardened Sound ninja was capable of bending at the will of a lusty woman, then Sakura was positive that _Naruto_ would melt like icecream.

As it was, he was practically gaping at her as she looked at him through her lashes. She wasn't sure he was even aware that his pupils had dilated, and that his gaze had begun to wander from her face. But then just as quickly as the moment of weakness had come, his expression had closed off and he took a step back.

"I'm not…" he fumbled for his words. Almost all of his earlier stoicism was gone. She was more comfortable around _this_ Naruto- the Naruto that stumbled his way through situations, and didn't have a logical bone in his body.

"C'mon," she pushed. Now that she had copped a feel of what might be under his shirt, she wasn't that willing to let it go.

It _had_ been months for her. And she felt sure that if she did this with Naruto, she could finally put aside some of that nagging guilt of leaving him behind.

She watched Naruto's adam apple rise and fall as he swallowed nervously. "I don't want to…" he trailed off, still not taking his eyes off her.

Sakura smiled sweetly at him. "Have you ever done it before?" She whispered, stepping forward. She almost laughed when he took another step back, like she was some dangerous animal. Definitely a virgin.

"No… No, but-"

"It'll be nice, I promise."

Naruto's ears had gone red, and Sakura bit her lip to keep back a laugh. She didn't want to tease him, but his innocence was cute and nice to see after all these years.

Naruto let out a low groan through his teeth. He glanced around almost desperately, like he was looking for some sort of distraction that would save him from this situation. After a moment he looked back at Sakura, and licked his lips slowly before nodding his head.

She grinned at him, and then turned back to the village.

"Where are you going?" He demanded, scurrying to keep up with her.

"An inn, obviously," she told him haughtily. "I'm hardly going to get undressed right _here_."

He stayed quiet after that, lingering on a step behind her as she marched confidently ahead. She could feel his eyes lingering on the back of her head, and on her thighs and shoulders. It was probably the first time she had caught him checking her out, and wasn't going to punch him in retaliation.

Now that they were going to do this, she felt more comfortable around him. They could do this, and then he would be happy because he had finally gotten what he always had from Sakura. Then he would be happy, and she could be happy knowing that she had made him happy.

She was certainly not going back to where she had been staying. If what he said was true, and Jiraiya was going to be around the area that she lived, then she would be an idiot to let Naruto know of her residence when he could come knocking at her door in less than an hour with one of the most powerful ninja alive.

The inn that she chose was not the fanciest. She figured that they would not need a room for longer than a few hours, so there was no sense in paying for pristine conditions.

Sakura eyed the quality of the place with some disgust. The walls were stained and peeling, and the smell of rotten wood greeted them as soon as they opened the door.

The concierge was a young man with glasses and acne, who was bent over one of those icha-icha novels that Kakashi had used to be so fond of reading. A part of Sakura wanted to ask Naruto if their former sensei still read those disgusting things? But she knew that would open a whole other dam of questions that she had kept locked up within herself tightly, and which she had no attention of reliving today.

The man looked up when they came in, immediately eyeing up Sakura with absolutely no shame and then glancing suspiciously at the hitai-ate on Naruto's forehead.

"A room please," Sakura said. "Just for a few hours."

The man turned back to her, his gaze lingering on the basket of fruit still hanging from her arm. He snorted and turned back to Naruto with a grin,

"Kinky bastard, aren't you?"

Sakura heard Naruto sputter and willed herself not to blush. The man shrugged his shoulders in a 'whatever works for you' gesture, and then rang up their order. 20 ryo for five hours.

Sakura reached into her pocket for the money, but Naruto stepped in front- counting off twenty pieces of paper onto the desk. He then placed another couple down, looking the man in the eye.

"Bring us some water in an hour or so."

The man nodded, and gleefully went to examine his currency.

Sakura turned to Naruto, but he was staring stubbornly in the other direction. The stoic gaze from before was back in place.

The man gave them a key and directions to their room and they were off.

The room they had been assigned to was as crappy as the rest of the inn. Sakura was pretty confident that something had died in here at one point, and it had not been washed since then. Back in her Konoha days, she would have made a fuss and demanded to be placed somewhere else, but spending three years living in the sewers that Orochimaru called a base had taken away most of her germaphobia.

That didn't stop her from walking to the window, and pushing it open.

She turned back to Naruto who was standing behind the now closed door, watching her as intensely as he had when they first met up. "That should help with the smell," she told him.

He nodded wordlessly, not taking his eyes off her.

She frowned at his rigidness. She had always been attracted to the dark, quiet type like Sasuke-kun, but seeing it play out on Naruto wasn't nearly as endearing. It wasn't supposed to be how Naruto reacted. Sakura was giving him something that he had wanted since their academy days, and instead of being his usual overexcited self, he had turned into a moody stone.

A part of her wanted to demand him to snap out of it. She hardly wanted to get this personal with a rock. But she thought back to his pleading look when she had been about to walk away. He had been sincere, and it had meant a lot to him for them to patch things up at least a little bit. And if this _was_ his first time, it would make sense that he was a little nervous, especially if it was going to be with Sakura. She thought of what she would have done if she had had her first time with Sasuke-kun. With no experience and no confidence in the bedroom, she would have been so afraid of making a fool of herself in front of him. In fact, she was still always a little afraid of making herself a fool in front of him.

But Naruto had never been too concerned with embarrassing himself, or he wouldn't have pulled off half the stunts that she had witnessed him do back when they were in Konoha together. She wondered if his rambunctiousness had faded with age, the way her silly fangirl ways had been left behind. But while she felt it better for herself and for everyone else that she no longer flung herself at Sasuke-kun every time she saw him, it didn't feel right to see Naruto without his usual energy and flare.

Whatever had happened to him, it was obvious that she was going to have to be the one to take control if either of them ever wanted to get off.

She sat on the bed and bent over to remove her sandals. Then, thinking better of having her bare feet on the disgusting carpet she left them alone and turned back to Naruto.

"I think we should try to keep it to the bed," she said. "I don't want to catch a disease from this place."

He nodded. Then, finally, he took a step towards her.

He was frowning now, his eyes glaring stubbornly at the floor between them. She saw redness build up around his ears, and concluded with some relief that he was simply nervous and unsure of how to go about it.

"Come sit on the bed," she directed, patting the mattress. Slowly, he moved forward. His form brushed gently against hers before he sank down, his face going level with her stomach. His eyes rose slowly to look up at her and await further instruction.

Sakura had never felt so uncomfortable with anyone. Not even the time Kabuto-sensei was giving her a check-up, and his hands kept sliding up her shirt. "Just checking for bumps," he'd chuckled in her ear.

But this really took the cake for awkward sexual encounters. She needed to get this over with fast, so that they could leave each other in peace and never mention it again.

Taking a deep breath to soothe the uncomfortable tugging in her gut, she placed her hands on Naruto's shoulders and slid her knee on the bed between his two legs. Hesitating for only a moment, she reached down and pressed her lips against his.

She thought back to the day they were assigned to the same team, and Naruto had accidentally kissed Sasuke-kun in the Academy. She wondered bitterly if Naruto was going to react the same way as he did then: sputtering away and gasping for breath.

But as she moved her lips against his, she slowly began to feel more in control. While Naruto continued to remain still, his lips were warm and she felt them loosen and part as she continued to work her own gently against his.

 _I'm kissing Naruto,_ she told herself. She waited to feel the disgust and humiliation that she would have felt in her genin days, but nothing came. There was only a sense of fascinated wonder. She was _kissing_ the teammate that she had not seen in three years. She was _willingly_ sliding her hand up his shoulder, and pulling him closer.

It was serial.

After a few moments, she began to pull away to move onto something else. But as her lips left his, his hands were suddenly grasping the back of her head, and she was pulled back to meet his mouth. This time his lips moved against hers, and it was so much more passionate, and just a little violent, than anything he had done up till now. His teeth scraped painfully on her upper and lower lip, and when she hesitantly parted her mouth, his tongue aggressively tangled with hers.

She withdrew a little out of breath, his hands still tangled in her hair. Her hands went to her vest, pulling down the zipper. He watched her with blazing eyes, his tongue reaching out to lick his swollen lips when her sports bra was slowly revealed.

Shrugging off the vest, she tossed it on the desk and went to make quick work of her bra. She was still dazed from their kiss, and took her time sliding down one strap down each shoulder, watching as Naruto's eyes followed her every move like he was using a magnifying glass. She half expected him to get a nosebleed when she finally unclasped the velcro from the back, and revealed her breasts to his probing gaze. But aside from a sharp intake of breath, she didn't get any reaction.

Sakura had only really grown breasts in the last year. Karin had spent their whole friendship teasing her about looking like a prepubescent boy. She still wasn't as big as the other women that she saw, but her breasts were naturally perky to the point that Suigetsu, in one thorough examination of them, had informed her she could afford to walk around without a bra if she really wanted to. "And you got skinny shoulders," he told her, while she was squirming beneath him. "They look bigger on you than they actually are."

With all the other men she had been, Sakura had not had to do much after her breasts were revealed. The guy usually went right for her chest and spent some time paying his respects. But Naruto was still sitting there. He hadn't taken his eyes off her, but he didn't have the same 'thank Kami' look that most other guys his age had when they got their rare look of a woman's cleavage.

Sakura was almost insulted. She had thought for sure that by the time her shirt was off, Naruto was going to snap out of his daze and finally get comfortable enough to take advantage of the opportunity that she was giving him.

Impatiently, she reached out for his hand and brought it up to rest gently on her breast. She kneaded his fingers into the flesh, getting his thumb to knead her nipple the way that she liked it. It hardened beneath his touch and she let out a small moan. His gaze lifted from her chest to her face, and she wiggled impatiently beneath his hands.

 _Get on with it, then,_ she tried to express to him, thrusting her breast further into his grip.

He looked back to her chest, and his other hand lifted to wrap around her waist. She was pulled between his knees, and hand pressing flat on her back and his legs tightened around her sides. He hesitated a moment, but then brought his face forward. She felt his tongue reach out and lick her nipple, and a pleasant tingle ran down her spine. She groaned out her approval to him, desperately wanting him to continue.

The hand on her back pressed more tightly, pulling her even closer. Sakura entwined her fingers behind his neck, and arched her back when his hungry mouth became sucking avidly at her nipple. She felt a familiar warmth growing between her legs and bit her lower lip. For someone who had not done this before, Naruto was remarkably skilled with his mouth. His teeth brushed occasionally on a sensitive nerve, and his other hand came up to grab her other breast. His thumb flicking the nipple back and forth until it was as hard as the twin between his teeth.

Sakura was letting out strangled moans rhythmically at that point, pulling with her hands to bring his face closer to her. His mouth left her breast to tongue at her navel, and she was able to get enough control of herself to move her hands away from his neck and begin fumbling with his jacket.

With some difficulty- his mouth and hand were rather distracting- she pulled his zipper down. As she pushed the fabric away from his shoulders, she was presented with a tone, muscular chest accented by a tight black tanktop he had been wearing underneath the jacket.

"Jiraiya's training was good for you," she panted, her hands running hungrily over his shoulders and across his abdominal pecs.

She felt him smirk against her skin, before he dragged his tongue from her bellybutton to under her breast. The trail of saliva made her shiver and clasp her thighs tighter together.

Naruto had certainly gotten over his initial shyness. His hands had gone down, tracing the circumference of her waist. With a sudden tug, he pulled her skirt down and popped the button holding it together. It pooled around her ankles.

If she hadn't been wearing her biker shorts beneath them, Sakura would have been sincerely pissed. As it was, she opened her mouth to voice her complaint, but he was already grabbing at her shorts and was in danger of tearing them with the same mercilessness that had lead him to destroy her innocent skirt. She pushed his hands away, and tugged her shorts down to her ankles, stepping out of them carefully.

When she looked back up, he had risen slightly from the bed and met her with a kiss. She tossed her shorts blindly at the desk, praying that they did not hit the dirty floor and risk contaminating her with whatever disease was in the carpet, and then wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled her body flush against his.

She could feel his excitement through his pants, pressing against her panties. A swell of triumph erupted from her chest at the thought of him _finally_ expressing the desire and want she knew that he had for her.

But when they pulled away from each other, she saw that his eyes were tinted a bloody red. He was breathing heavily in angry, lustfilled pants.

Sakura remembered the demon that resided within Naruto. When she had proposed having sex with him, she hadn't grasped that she would be having sex with a man with a living, thriving nine-tailed fox demon trapped in his mind. She thought back to three years ago when Team 7 had fought against Gaara- his eyes gleaming with bloodlust, that sadistic smirk plastered on his face. Could the Kyuubi turn Naruto into what Gaara's demon had turned him?

She was scared now. Her hands went up to cover her chest in protection more so than any delayed modesty. Naruto took a few more deep breaths, and then closed his fingers around her upper arms. She cried out when she was tossed onto the bed, and her body covered by Naruto's. Her heart was pounding hard against her ribcage. She trembled beneath his gaze.

He was frowning at her. His eyes darted back and forth between her swollen lips and widened eyes.

When he made eye contact and maintained it, Sakura knew that she no longer had any control of the situation.

His hands curled around her wrists, and pulled them away from her chest. He pressed them above her head into the mattress, and his mouth went to her neck. She cried out when he bit her, but he continued to suckle on her skin until she knew there would be a mark.

After a long while, he pulled back. The redness on his eyes had died away, but he was still wearing that uncharacteristically serious expression on his face. Not breaking eye contact, he reached down and pulled his pants down to his hips. She watched his erection rise from the fabric, and nearly screeched in fright when his hands went to her panties and pushed them down to her thighs.

She almost missed the reserved, uncomfortable Naruto that had been replaced by this angry, over-controlling creature. She felt him adjust himself against her, his erection pressing angrily against her core. She strained her eyes to look down, but a hand on her chin brought her gaze up to meet his.

For the first time since they had entered the room he spoke.

"You're so beautiful."

And then he entered her.

Nothing could have prepared her for the force of his thrust . Sakura screeched and moved to push him off, or to cover her lower body, but his grip tightened around her wrists and immobilized her beneath him. He began moving without waiting for her to adjust. This was his first time- maybe he didn't know that he needed to wait. Or, maybe he did, and just wanted to punish her for her betrayal with pain.

He growled and went back to her neck. Sucking fervently at the same spot as before.

She grit her teeth as the pressure and friction increased in her nether regions. She cried out with every thrust, her head falling back on the bed and her chest pressing tight against his.

Finally, he removed his mouth from her neck and she looked up to see him watching her.

She told herself that the water that rose up in her eyes were because of the pain he was causing.. But she knew in her heart that it was because his eyes told her that Naruto still loved her, that he was still hurt from her leaving, that he still, after all this time, had not given up on her. And she was so, so guilty and she was so, so sorry for ever letting this happen-

A single drop slid down from the crease of of one eye to sink down her cheek. She watched him watch it with a greater fascination than he had when she had taken off her top. His gyrating hips came to a stop, and he watched another tear trail down to join the first. Then, he leaned down and pressed his lips softly against hers.

It occurred to Sakura, that she had never actually been kissed by someone who loved her. Most of the people in Sound weren't even capable of feeling love, and most of the time they were more interested in the sex than they were in the kissing. The tenderest kiss she had received was from Suigetsu when they agreed to be each other's firsts, and he had been so worried that his teeth were going to tear her mouth that he had tried maneuvering his lips to keep his jaws away from her, resulting in a kiss that was comical and awkward than Sasuke and Naruto's infamous smooch in their academy days.

But Naruto was pouring his very soul out to Sakura in this kiss. It was soft and careful. She felt all the affection and fondness that he had showered on her in their genin days, and that she had stupidly thought would be there after all this time. She felt all the pain that he had gone through when he had left. All the heart ache. There was no anger, just anguish and sorrow. When he finally pulled back, her cheeks were drenched in her tears.

His hips started up again, this time at a much more appropriate pace. He loosened the grip on her wrists, and she reached out to grasp his shoulders. Her hand caressed his face and hair, offering him the warmth and comfort he had never received from her. He pressed butterfly kisses on her neck and tears, and she knew that was his way of saying that he had forgiven her at least a little bit.

She went to wrap a leg around his waist, but cried out when he hit something that sent sparks through her. Her walls tightened around him and he grunted, pushing again into her. Sharp and direct.

She felt the knot inside of her begin to tug harder. The tenderness was forgotten when his hands went to her hips, and pulled her lower half against his. He buried her face in his neck, licking and scraping his teeth on her bite mark and sending more thrills down her spine.

She was crying out so much that it was hurting her ears. "Naruto," she heard herself gasp out. "Naruto… Naruto… please, _please-_ "

He moved his mouth away from her neck, and kissed his way up to her ear. His lips molded against it, and he began growling things to her that she could scarcely make out- there was her name, and then something about her smell, and about how beautiful she was, and how she wasn't getting away from her this time-

And then she lost all ability to comprehend anything on a particularly accurate thrust, when she felt the inside of her stomach contract on itself. She screamed and squirmed as she rode out her orgasm, the spasms so delicious and often that they almost pained her.

Naruto's fingers dug into her waist, and he went back to her neck- his teeth sinking in harder than they had ever before as he came.

His body tensed against her like a piece of string, she could feel every muscle and layer of epidermis. When he finally loosened above her, his body pressed against hers like a sweaty, langy blanket. Neither of them could move for another few moments. Sakura was vaguely aware that Naruto's teeth were still on her neck, but she was too preoccupied waiting for blood to start flowing regularly through the rest of her body that she couldn't comprehend any pain from the area.

She took a few deep breaths. Each one helped clear her vision a little more and brought some more clarity to her thinking. Once she was confident that she could move without seeing stars, she gently nudged his waist and pushed him off of her. He went willingly, his now soft member slipping out of her and resting against his thigh as he rolled over to lie beside her.

She took another moment to gather her wits, and then sat up. Her hand went to her throat to investigate his love bite. She felt his touch on her back, above her buttocks, and he began massaging the skin soothingly.

After a moment's hesitation, Sakura shrugged him off. It would not do for Naruto to become too attached. After all, she was on her way out of here and it would be a while before they saw each other-

There was a knock on the door.

She gasped, and scrambled for her clothes. Who the fucking Hell would be knocking at-?

"Do you folks still want the water?" The voice of the man who had given the room came from the other side of the door. Sakura looked over at Naruto to see that he had stood up, and was pulling his pants back up his waist.

She flushed when she realized that he had not taken off his tank top throughout the whole thing.

Naruto opened the door, his body hiding Sakura from wandering eyes, and the man handed him two glasses to him. One was pink and the other orange.

"I thought the pretty lady might enjoy pink… And you clearly have a thing for orange."

"Thanks," Naruto said.

"Not a problem," the voice came. The man went to leave, but Naruto reached out and grabbed his arm. He pushed some more ryo into the man's palm.

Sakura had never known him to be so generous with his money. But then, the last hour had taught her that even Naruto had changed.

The man left and he shut the door.

He gave Sakura the pink cup, and then began guzzling down his own hungrily.

Sakura hesitated, but then brought the water to her lips. It was refreshing. The room smelled like complete sex, which was at least more bearable than what it had smelled like when they first came in, but the temperature felt like it had risen at least five degrees even with the open window. The water felt good sliding down her sore throat, and she allowed some to drizzle down her chest and shoulders with a blissful sigh.

Naruto grabbed an apple from her fruit basket and then came to sit back down with her on the bed. Sakura began pulling her soiled panties up. She winced at the sting when they slid over her hips and covered her mons pubis. She could feel Naruto's eyes on her, but couldn't bring herself to make eye contact for one reason or another. She occupied herself with reaching for her clothes.

Sakura felt the effects of the sedative as soon as she bent down to retrieve her fallen skirt. Her head swooned, and she fell back on the bed with a pathetic 'ah'.

"Did you really think I was going to let you get away that easily?"

Her heart stopped, and she struggled to tilt her head to look at Naruto. He looked grimly back at her, the apple abandoned in his lap.

He lifted up the orange glass he had been drinking from. "I tipped the guy to drug your drink when we rented the room."

Sakura frowned, she could feel her body beginning to shut down. "H-h-how…"

"How did I do it without you noticing?"

Naruto reached into his pocket for a ryo. He flipped it over several times and writing came onto it before Sakura's eyes. She felt the blood drain from her face… She had seen the parchment at the weapons market-

"Nin parchment," he told her. "It's the newest thing Ero-Senin and I picked up... you use your chakra to write messages on it. Cool trick, works especially well with paper money. I told the guy that if he wanted a standing ovation from the Hokage of Konoha he would aid in catching a very wanted missing-nin."

Sakura was shaking all over, in rage or in panic she could not tell for sure. All she knew was that she needed to get out of here.

Her knees buckled furiously underneath her, and a stray hand sent the fruit basket to the floor. By some miracle, she was halfway to the door when Naruto calmly stood up and intercepted her. His hands rested on her hips, gently caressing her.

He shook his head, almost regretfully,"Don't bother, Sakura-chan… I just pushed some more nin parchment in the guy's hand. He's to alert Konoha that I have you in custody. There will be a group here very soon, and you won't be able to escape them."

A sob left Sakura's lips. Goddamnit. Goddamnit!

"We received word that you were hanging around this area a few days ago… We knew that you had left Sound alone, and it would be the perfect opportunity to come looking for you."

Naruto frowned at her. "You must really not think much of me to have lowered your guard so much… I promised myself when you and Sasuke-teme left that the next time I saw you, I would bring you back to Konoha. Have to admit I didn't expect _this_ to happen, but you've let your guard down long enough for us to get everything ready."

"N-n…" Sakura's words failed her at the same time as her body did. She crumpled in Naruto's grip, sinking to the floor. He caught her, and pushed her gently onto the bed. Her cheeks were wet. She glared at the ceiling, her mind growing steadily more sluggish.

Naruto's hand touched her bare shoulder, gliding down, past her breast and stomach.

"You've been dodging me for too long, Sakura-chan. The drug will keep you knocked out for a few days… You'll wake up in Konoha. At home. Where you belong."

His fingers went to the bite on her neck, and everything went black.

* * *

Reviews of all kinds welcomed!


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